“The leader’s ill-informed instincts become the ideology,” Jaitely said in a post on Facebook. “This can only happen to a party which becomes ideologyless; pushes itself to the fringe; is willing to act as a tailender to regional parties. All this because its only obsession is a person called Narendra Modi.”

Referring to Gandhi’s statement that the Modi government has waived off bank loans to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakh crore owed by corporates, Jaitley clarified that there was no waiver and that “debtor liability remains”. “For a president of a national party not to understand this basic procedure of bank functioning should be a matter of concern to the entire party as also the country,” he said.

Jaitley said that the Congress chief’s remarks that smaller businessmen like shikanjiwalas, dhabawalas and mechanics cannot grow in India were factually incorrect and that the National Democratic Alliance realised the importance of self-employment opportunities and launched the Mudra Yojana. “The Congress Party president prefers the Gobbelian traditions to say the exact opposite,” Jaitely said. “What he claimed before the audience is precisely what we have successfully implemented.”

Jaitley criticised former Union minister P Chidambaram for arguing that frying pakodas did not amount to job creation and said that Chidambaram was trying to neutralise the success story of the Mudra Yojana under which the government has provided Rs 12.90 crore in loans to promote self-employment.

The Union minister also questioned Gandhi’s “sudden love” for the Other Backward Classes. “The Congress was always anti-OBC,” said Jaitley.

It opportunistically supported reservation for the non-backwards. It impliedly wants to reduce the quota for the OBCs knowing fully well that the judiciary will not allow 50 percent cap on reservations to be waived and the new claimants would eat into the OBC quota.

P. Chidambaram believes that frying pakodas does not create jobs. Rahul Gandhi says that running Dhabas can be a launch pad for start ups. In dynastic parties political positions are heritable, wisdom is not.